Jeremy and I met with Kim and Nikki Bannister in a pub in the Cotswolds to try and teach me how to hold a tulip map the right way up and how to press buttons on a stopwatch. They certainly got me looking efficient and Jeremy had the fun job of driving the Boxster through water splashes. We even finished in the right place (partly accidentally)!

Bring on the Regularities!

A peek at the Itinerary

Not a bad place to update the Blog

And here we are! not a bad place to update the Blog – by a pool on the Indian Ocean in Dar. We landed this morning at 5.45 am and came straight to the Sea Cliff hotel. We have made contact with our Rally Clerks of the Course Nikki and Kim Bannister over breakfast and made use of some one-to-one time with them to gain some local knowledge. The competition begins before the competition! We have also now met some of our fellow Rally goers – the petrol head schpeak has begun – yawn Victoria!…..

Arriving back at the hotel armed with oil for the imminent oil changes as we run the car in.

Our new friend Chris acting as a private banker as he changed too many dollars to Tanzanian Shillings – don’t worry we checked the exchange rate!

Collecting Sol (at last) and all the antics that went with…

Today we were all bussed over to the other side of Dar to collect our cars from the port. A long hot dusty drive – even the coaches got lost – good come back for me in the future as navigator! Here is a photo of all the cars with the containers in the background that they arrived in. Everyone very keen to be reunited with their cars, I think Jeremy was the keenest!

And the OFF! The journey starts here. My first navigational challenge as the calibration exercise began when we got back to Sea Cliff.

Not long into the journey back to the hotel we got stuck in terrible traffic, Sol overheated and the clutch was not impressed and stopped working.

Rev your engines!

The start line of the Rally Round Africa 2018

We are car number 10 – leaving at one minute intervals – Standard time is 07.00 so we are leaving at 07.10…we are counted down and waved off, vroom vroom…

Navigator (me) trying to remember her training lesson in the Cotswolds – only last week but a long long way away. Must zero the trip meter at the exit – the journey begins!!!!

Still Alive

A quick post to let you all know that we are still alive! Blogging has been very difficult as this has turned out to be what one of the other competitors described as a “full on endurance rally” driving from dawn till dusk with only just time to eat and grab a few hours sleep until the alarm goes off to start again the next day. Added to that of course very limited wi-fi that isn’t enough to upload blog posts and so many problems with the car that has left J (and the wonderful mechanics) working on him into the early hours…..other Bloggers have given up – not me and anyway tomorrow we have a day off in Lusaka, we arrived tonight after driving for 10 hours 566K so I will do some proper blogging and get you all up to date!

Love to all from us both and Sol and Africa xxx

Dar es Salaam to Selous

The first of many early starts we set off on our (short for this Rally) 200.16K drive to Morogoro.

Despite our police escort the rush hour traffic out of Dar was horrendous and Sol got very hot very quickly. It was a joy however to see the excitement on people’s faces as they lined the streets to wave us along.

Jeremy really had to have his wits about him as the journey to Morogoro was so hazardous. Motorbikes and Tuk-tuks everywhere and people running into the road to wave at us. Then once we were out on the main roads little Sol was squeezed between a relentless stream of overloaded lorries that would definitely not pass European emissions tests!

Sol stood up to the challenge until 1K before we arrived at the hotel. He had had enough of the heat and the clutch went again. Somehow J managed to coast into the hotel car park and I did my bit getting the time card signed.

A Day In The Selous 5th Oct Day Two

Jeremy is understandably fretting this morning about waking up in the middle of a 54,000 square kilometre park while Sol is hundreds of miles away in need of attention. We won’t be going any further until the clutch problem is fixed. However his worries were soon far away as we set off on four wheels again for a day in the Bush.

Our first stop (after driving for 2 hours!) was the Rufiji river – the biggest in Tanzania apparently. Jeremy feeling at home messing about in boats

We saw many crocodiles and hippos and all sorts of other wildlife – our dedicated guide got into the river right next to a huge crocodile to free the boat the grounded boat.

Our group was split between 4 camps and luckily the mechanics were staying with us in Serena lodge. They had been delayed for the night but arrived in time for us to collar them at dinner buy them a beer and hope to be at the front of the queue for fixing when we get back to Sol in the morning….

Selous to Mikum

Breakfast on the move

we were given the first flight with the mechanics so that they could get going on Sol to hopefully problem solve before setting off at standard time 13.00 on our long journey to Mikumi – we weren’t the only ones with problems…

After adjusting the clutch and fitting a fan and even finding other problems which were solved with a pair of Jeremy’s pants (!) we set of at the much later time of 15.00. No sooner had we gone round the corner than Sol started making all the wrong noises, so back we turned. As we drove back in J said that the engine sounds “Pants” so Richard (chief mechanic) said “you had better take your pants off then”. That is what he did. Problem (and a few more such as the choke being stuck on which explained why we were using so much petrol) solved.

A long hot dusty journey down to Mukimi – more lorries and motorbikes – speed traps round every corner manned by policemen who basically name their price for a cash fine with no receipt – cheered along by the hords of happy people along the roads.

All was going well until just before we reached our time control destination and suddenly the trip meter stopped working ! HELP ! Jeremy pointed to the speedometer which was also out and said that he thought that the cable had probably snapped. This was disastrous for me as navigator. We found the hotel anyway as it was guessable from the last section of the rout book and got signed off. We were split into hotels tonight and I have to say when we were shown to our grotty noisy one on the main road – after all the problems we were having with the car and the really enduring journey it had taken to get there I was close to sense of humour failure.

It’s all part of Rallying (apparently!) and I talked myself into keeping my spirits up. J had a look at the cable, saw that it had snapped, so there was nothing we could do about it and we got in a landrover to go back to the other hotel for a BBQ with some local entertainment – not such a bad ending after all and ….tomorrow is another day……

Rest Day In Lusaka day 8

Since I posted the Blogs below – we have crossed the border from Tanzania to Malawi, driven through beautiful Malawi which was such a breath of fresh air literally after Tanzania – no lorries (!) and crossed borders again into Zambia. We spent our first night in Chipata and now we are having a day off in Lusaka. Jeremy having driven the last 1,800K on the handbrake (with the foot brake as an emergency as it sticks on every time you use it – I won’t bore you with why). No fuel gauge (we have run out of petrol twice!) using an app on my phone for a trip meter.

We had a press meeting this morning with Sam the president of Zambia Motor Sport Association where Jeremy was given a chance to talk about Just A Drop to the Zambian media. Since then, Jeremy has been having fun working on Sol – fixing an oil leak and goodness knows what else, with Sam joining in and having a go driving Sol. It was wonderful to see what pleasure it has given Sam.

I have spent the rest of the day – it’s now 6.00- updating the Blog but have only got to Day 4! Other people have given up and switched to Instagram and even the Rally Round team said that they are struggling to keep up with theirs with two people feeding it. So I feel I can be forgiven for skipping a few days.

I really want to put up lots of lovely pictures to give you a flavour of the diverse areas that we are driving through but that is what takes the time. My over riding feeling of the Rally so far (apart from exhaustion!) is the sheer joy our cars give to all the people we pass, so here is one or two to give you a flavour of that.

And of course Jeremy spending more time under the car than in it!

Tomorrow morning we weave for Livingstone at standard time 06.00 that’s 06.10 for us – less than 12 hours away, so it’s time for me to sign off and go and get my hands dirty with Jeremy and his nuts in the car park! xxx

Lusaka To Livingstone

So we checked out of time control at 06.10 and then went to breakfast. Probably not that sensible as little Sol has one of the smallest engines on the Rally and needs lots of petrol stops

and stops to crack the breaks off every time J has to use them, so we struggle to get the the time controls at the best of times. Anyway we had a good run out of Lusaka and then did a 45K section on a dirt track – that was really good fun but no pictures I’m afraid as SO bumpy and no time for stopping. The only car we passed was one of the Porsches, who were understandably taking it very carefully after a previous Porsche lost it’s suspension in a pot hole earlier in the Rally. So we knew we were at the back of the pack again.

After making up some miles on a nice clear main road, – only stopped for speeding once (!) we turned off onto more track to start our first timed section: Regularity RS9./1 : Kolomo.

Here is where it all started to ho horribly wrong! This is what Raying is all really about – the competitive side. The previous regularities had been cancelled for various reasons so there was quite a build up to this our first one and I was nervous enough as it was. There is a window of time to do the regularity and we got there five minutes before the end – We spent 15 minutes faffing about where the start was as the instructions were ambiguous – Several locals stopped and asked if they could help as they thought we were lost – we tried to explain what we were doing but it’s not easy to explain! – I had at this point put about four different start times on my time card and we were now 15 minutes late to start. Little did I know there was worse to come – I was just getting ready for the off and my phone which is what I was using for a trip meter told me it was too hot and it died on me! Stress levels were boiling over – but J remained his usual calm self and started taking photographs! We decided to just drive it and guess the distances and see what happened….. We don’t even have a speedometer (!) because of the snapped cable, but J thinks the rev counter is just as accurate. I have a proper mechanical stop watch that J sells through HVC but it was useless without the trip meter. The average speed was supposed to be 38 so again we guessed. Unbelievably we didn’t get lost and arrived only a few seconds out – so it could have been a lot worse but I was quite traumatised by the whole thing!

It was all made better by the section ending at Rowland and Mandy Smith’s Farmhouse where they hosted a fabulous lunch for us all, care of our fellow competitor Tony Allen.

By complete co-incidence Tony is associated with a schools charity called African Revival who are supported by Just A Drop! Two of their representatives were there so we chatted to them about Just A Drop and here is a photo of J with them:

I put my phone in the fridge and off we set for the next regularity – which wasn’t nearly so traumatic –

and the drive down to Livinngstone

Soon after Livingstone we arrived at the fabulous fabulous fabulous Royal Livingstone hotel. Not often you have Zebras grazing on the lawn with a Morgan in the background!

We were greeted with sundowners looking over the Zambezi river. The stresses of the day all forgotten

Rest Day At Livingstone

Breakfast on the veranda in Father’s original (vintage!) Safari shirt

and then a walk to my namesake Falls

J has been fettling with the car again this afternoon – more oil leaks and the such and I have been uploading photos to the blog and refraining from throwing my Mac-book into the Zambezi! Am going for a swim now before the day vanishes – we are all meeting at 4.00 for a surprise ?!?!…..

And the Surprise Was….

A ride on the Livingstone Express (their version of the Orient Express in it’s day) with dinner and drinks.

More than slightly uncomfortable as we were steaming through communities of people living in shacks surrounded by rubbish – plastic bottles mainly but they rushed up to cheer us on, with sheer joy on their faces.

Time to leave Alastiar to his Babes

A quick toot of the whistle

and back to study the route book to see what tomorrow holds for us in a navigational way. If only we had a plan of what will go wrong with Sol tomorrow! xxx

From Zambia to Botswana

We were warned that this would be the most difficult/stressful border crossing, but little did anyone know that the ferry would be broken! we left in batches rather than one minute intervals to make the crossing easier, the 9.00ers before us were very lucky as they got on the last ride before it broke. There was no shade and we were waiting in 40 degrees African sun When we were told it would be half an hour to fix it we thought maybe three days, so were utterly delighted that it was all fixed in under four hours! We (in a very hot way) enjoyed the view of four different countries, (don’t ask me to name them now – I’ve had a cocktail in celebration that I have enough wifi to upload a photo!) and watching the scenery such as the carved out canoes going past

then we were on our way

And here we are in no mans land between Zambia and Botswana

Kasane to Francistown

Lots of Driving, lots of Navving, lots of Distance, I overshot the turning to the track to lunch, partly because J was following Alastair and Rachael who had also overshot it, because he was convinced they would know where they were going! – denying the first rule of Navigating that he taught me (actually the only one) which was never follow anyone else!

Arrived at our watering hole only to be whisked off on trucks to the salt flats – well it was all very flat as our truck got a flat tyre, with no spare – so we baled onto another truck that had already seen the flamingoes and went back!

More spannering needed – don’t ask me what – you don’t need to know…

From Phinda to Umghlanga

Bye bye team at Phinda – lovely seeing you and all the other animals.

Hello Umghlanga

The face says it all – we have arrived at the Oyster Box in Umhalanga – a beautiful hotel in a stunning location, in one piece but with no clutch! The closest I have seen to J not smiling!

I have enough wifi to upload a few photos but feeling FOMO as my group WatsApp with the Rally is inundated with pictures of everyone else enjoying cocktails, while I do Blogging. Here I am with Eva and Barbara feeling very proud of ourselves!

J is spannering with the mechanics (saints!) with the help of a beer from Pam. Pam and Laurie do know how to look after us!

p.s. Recent regularities have been cancelled and I totally messed up the ones that we did do – partly because of the broken cable to the gauge pilot – no speedometer – no kilometre – no trip meter – etc etc – but today we had two regularities and with the help of a stop watch (even that is 4 seconds out), and an app on my phone which didn’t overheat today, we got a Zero and a 1 – (for my friends and family who don’t know – low is good) is bring on the beers.

Here is a picture of the Rally Round Team – Organisers, Doctor, Photographer and Mechanics, with my celebrating our Zero with Gary ?

]]>Rally Round Africa: Victoria writes (Part 2)https://www.holden.co.uk/blog/rally-round-africa-victoria-writes-part-2/
Fri, 21 Dec 2018 11:10:37 +0000http://blog.holden.co.uk/?p=1966Umhlanga to Umngaz Super organised Charlotte, had organised for the brakes parts and a new cable for the Guage Pilot to be sent to the Oyster Box, so we were really looking forward to continuing in a “relatively” normal way – and for me to do some of the driving – but “this is Africa”...

Super organised Charlotte, had organised for the brakes parts and a new cable for the Guage Pilot to be sent to the Oyster Box, so we were really looking forward to continuing in a “relatively” normal way – and for me to do some of the driving – but “this is Africa” and the parcel is stuck in customs so we have organised for it’s return as it will never catch up with us now.

So off we go at the very sociable time of standard time 9.30. The clutch fixed but overnight Sol had decided he was only going to run on three pistons… We stopped later at a petrol station, a quick chat to the locals while J cleaned the spark plug and we were on our way again.

The wire to the petrol pump keeps shorting – we’re never quite sure if we have run out of petrol as we don’t have a petrol gauge, but a quick wiggle of the ignition usually gets it going again. We just had our fingers crossed that it didn’t happen in the middle of our Test at the aptly named Dizzy Raceway racing track.

Thankfully it didn’t and we had a good whizz around the track and the cones. We were told later that we were spilling oil everywhere causing cars after us to skid – well that is rallying…. and it would explain why the oil pressure keeps dropping.

It was a long old climb up and down mountains on the handbrake but J enjoying the relatively easy road surfaces. Covering so many miles in one day means you go through really diverse landscapes. Some open countryside, some forest and some crazy little towns.

Down a very bumpy track to our insalubriously named destination Umngazi River Bungalows. What an amazing surprise…. This place is fabulous. All the hardships of the Rally forgiven – and the Magicians I mean Saints otherwise known as Mechanics have fixed Sol! For now!

Motororing without wheels….

Here is a picture of Marco and Stephanie’s 1977 Bently Convertible looking very gracious parked in a slipway

And Eva and Philip tuning their very ancient mode of transport

Our favourite place so far and what a view from the outdoor shower of the Indian Ocean at the mouth of the Umngazi River….

Tonight at dinner we were acknowledged for getting a Zero in the regularity yesterday. A sparkly star for me and a metal mug for J with the words I love you Umngazi on the mug – says it all xxx

Day 22 Umngazi to Cradock

Day 24 Oudtshoorn to Franschoek

The penultimate day…

We set off from the Queens hotel in Oudtshoorn after early breakfast and an extra Regularity was put on to make up for the one that had to be cancelled yesterday – so three in all today. The first two were soon after we set off from the hotel and one almost lead off from the other so it was good to get those out of the way early and very encouraging to get another zero on the first one ? Zero is J’s new nick-name for me. As this was our second one we thought about making it Double Zero but J thought that sounded insulting as it could be a very small bra size! So I’ll stick with Zero which is cool enough for me. Anyway that didn’t stop me being nervous about the third one though which wasn’t until mid afternoon just before we arrived at our destination so I can’t say I noticed much of the scenery today.

Because of the difficulties in closing tarmac roads, the were all on gravel/dirt roads as usual, so many more mouthfuls of dust were swallowed. The third regularity had two timing points so that made it a bit more of a challenge and the last few Km the average speed went up by 10K just before a dip and a corner and of course the end was just round the corner, but we didn’t do badly and were infact early by three seconds.

At the first timing point, Jeremy’s ace, professional, previous navigator, John Baylis and his other half were Marshalling. Jeremy was so delighted to see him that he turned the engine off! I had to be a very bossy navigator and make him carry on at speed to make up the valuable seconds we were losing by socialising – not to mention that Andrew and Claudine our Team fellows in Rusty Nuts had started one minute behind us and likely to be held up by us and never speak to us again!

At the end of all those dusty miles and hot competition we were rewarded by being welcomed onto the home of previous Rally Round competitors Clive Venning and his Wife – for a fabulous wine tasting at their very fabulous house.

Then on we went – luckily only round the corner for the drivers – to the Le Franschoek Hotel. Another beautiful place where we each stayed in individual “huts” more like houses, with a lovely airy main building where we had dinner in a sort of huge dining hall. There was a lovely atmosphere tonight. Everyone is in the mood for celebrating. The end of the Rally is in sight but still the excitement of the competition goes on. We have now such a reputation for overcoming all the problems with the Sol our car that we were clapped out of the dining room when we left. That was very special.

The Final Day Franschhoek To Cape Town

Car packed again but for the last time this time…

I can’t believe we have fitted our lives into these two bags for the last five weeks, Plus a petrol can which has proved more important than anything – at least the load is lighter now as I am getting through the 42 pairs of knickers I brought with me. They have been serupticiously disposed of along the way, and only once was a pair delivered back to me – in an envelope at breakfast as we were leaving the Selous game reserve! Luckily Stephany and I had already bonded having a wee together at the side j

Sad to leave Le Fran but we are on a Rally with a Finish Line in sight…

Time control, rather than being from the hotel this morning was from a private Motor museum. We were given some extra time to look around it and would have given it a miss after the disappointment of the last two, but luckily we were given a tip off from Marco and his wife Stephanie that this is one of the best private car collections in the world – they weren’t wrong and we were all gob smacked, not just by the cars but by the beautifully landscaped museum also.

Sol of it’s day?

I will never complain about my navigation equipment again – bring on the Tulip diagrams!

Beautifully landscaped setting but need to stand in the shade even for a quick photo – so hot already at 10.00am and forecast 40 degrees later!

So after lots of oohing and aahing we all checked out of the museum in car number order to hopefully travel in some sort of convoy to our finish line at Camps Bay School. Needless to say the ordering went a bit pear shaped as we had to stop for petrol and who did we find there eating rum and raisin chock ices – of course Neil and Scal, who are eating every time we see them and even spend their hours on the road chanting “bacon sandwiches”!

With literally minutes to spare before our last time control being the finish line – we are already well into the penalty free extra half an hour thanks to traffic and wanting to make the most of the Chapmans Peak drive – we eventually arrive at Camps Bay School.

In time to cheer on a few of our competitors

And the Heroes of the day!

Not quite such a celebration for poor Philip and Eva – literally minutes after they crossed the finish line…

After a little bit of mutual congratulations over some fizz and nibbles…

We did then set off on our last leg to The Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town for prize giving and celebrating.. hmm lots of jollity and bantering to come!!!

Grand Finale

So here we are at the conclusion:

Sol has evolved from Rust to Rally. With a lot of help from a lot of very special people – including Adam Jones, Charlotte, The Rally Round Mechanics (Saints) and our “back up team” total deserving winners of the Spirit of the Rally award – Laurie and Pam and many more….

One day I will find my scarf that you gave me Laurie which will have even more adventures to talk of from being lost – and Pam, who is going to polish our headlamps now!?!? We three love you two xxx Also a big thank you to those who helped us along the way – our “OK” sign has not been used much. Andrew and Claudine right at the start helped at the side of the road when our brakes seized on with a brain storming solution on how to continue without them – Adrian and Ali the first time we ran out of petrol, Alastair an Rachel the second time…. the list goes on.

Our evening started with a fabulous and memorable rendez vue with Harry, who very graciously invited us to join him for Pina Coladas on the Table Bay terrace, a first for both of us. Harry explained the fascinating story of his breaking of Pina Colada virginity, I will let him tell you the story himself. Him and Gary are now in Namibia for an eight day adventure there on their own – what a pair! Go Harry and Gary!!!

Time for the awards – tumtrallallar…. you won’t be surprised to hear that we won the “Against All Odds” award, but we were delighted to also receive 3rd in Class, and Second in the team entires -go Rusty Nuts and thanks to Andrew and Claudine and Chris and Kathy our team mates.!!!

It’s not over for the cars though, and the next day we were back on the road to deliver our cars to the warehouse for shipping back home…

Not as many as started: One car didn’t arrive at the beginning, one car was T-boned on it’s way from the port to the start of the Rally, one Porsche lost it’s suspension, down a pot hole on a mountain climb in Malawi, Harry and Garry had a broken crank shaft on their Model A Ford, Joan and Bob’s engine packed up on their Ford Capri something to do with a camshaft or distributor or both not sure – we missed seeing your little blue car along the way – then poor Michel and the Bently came a cropper – so glad the operation was successful and you are recovering Michel – and finally literally at the finish line, Philip and Eva’s Alpha Romeo’s engine caught fire!

So it was quite emotional saying goodbye to all the cars that actually made it after all they had been through. Here is a picture of J doing last minute putting to bed before we all said goodbye.

Thank you Rally Round team and all the other competitors for bags and bags of truly incredible memories, and to Africa for sharing your joy….

xxxxxx

Not Forgetting Our Charity Just A Drop

A big huge thank you to Rally Round for choosing Just A Drop for their chosen charity to support. Thanks to all the team entry money being donated, we raised $360 !!!

]]>The Restoration of ‘Sol’ The African Rally Morgan +4 (Chapter 4)https://www.holden.co.uk/blog/the-final-restoration-chapter-sol-the-morgan-4/
Thu, 16 Aug 2018 08:55:31 +0000http://blog.holden.co.uk/?p=1860As those who have been following our story will be only too aware, the deadline has now passed and Sol has set off on the first leg of the journey, but what happened following the last video instalment? Work continued at an ever gathering pace to get Sol to a point where the car was...

As those who have been following our story will be only too aware, the deadline has now passed and Sol has set off on the first leg of the journey, but what happened following the last video instalment?

Work continued at an ever gathering pace to get Sol to a point where the car was ready to go to be trimmed, this involved making and fitting a wiring harness, made by The Wiring Harness Company just a few miles from our Bromyard Workshop, collecting and installing both a fuel tank and a radiator and ensuring that anything needing fitting or drilling both under and indeed on top of trim had been drilled. One item that roved a bit of a challenge at this point was a mounting bar for the seat belts – the car being fitted with 4 point competition type harnesses – as this has to be fitted to the rear wheel arch, but of course, there was no trim on the wheel arches, so after a couple of discussions with the trimmer, a suitable gap was left and holes drilled!

Sol was now ready to go to Custom Coach Trimming, again a local company, run by an ex-Morgan Factory Trimmer who set about the interior, making door cards, wheel arch tops and sides, a gearbox cover and sundry other bits and bobs. Custom Coach Trimming was also going to make a hood, but this was to come at a later date.

Once trimmed, the car returned to the Holden Workshop and work pressed on to get it all together. The braking system pipework was checked over before being filled with fluid and the air bled out of it, providing us with a fully functioning braking system. Once this was done, the front wings were fitted and the lights wired up and tested. Finally, at the front, the cowl was added and the bonnet fitted to line the cowl up correctly. The bonnet was then removed to allow for better access to the mechanicals. Correct water hoses and an exhaust silencer together with a tailpipe were all sourced from Melvyn Rutter. Our local Motor Factor was able to source a length of flexible exhaust pipe, which was used to connect the manifold to the silencer, in order to offer an amount of movement to the exhaust and remove any stresses that may come from rougher roads.

At this point, Sol went back to Custom Coach Trimming for the hood and side screens to be fitted. Here we discovered that the windscreen was fitted at the incorrect angle, so had to make a hurried correction, thus enabling the use of standard Morgan side screens, a decision which saved time and the need for a custom made set! It soon became clear that the original pattern hood frame would not work with the addition of the rollover bar, so this was put to one side – it will be used for the Interim +4 project that is in the Workshop as the hood frame for this has all but returned to nature! Meanwhile, a more modern Morgan hood frame was modified to fit, providing enough support for the hood and giving a line that was pleasing to the eye from the side, whilst also being able to offer enough headroom inside.

Once the car returned to the Holden Workshop, engine, gearbox and axle oil was added, together with water to allow us to start the engine. Loose ends of wiring and pipework were clipped up safely out of the way and tidied up whilst the fluids settled in. A small drip of oil became evident under the engine – difficult to see as it was beautifully clean – seemingly coming from the sump plug and dripping on to the sump guard that had been fitted. Applying a spanner revealed the plug to be tight. Careful inspection of the sump pan, having removed the now slightly oily sump guard showed a dent, possibly from an impact at some point, or an over enthusiastic mechanic jacking the car up under the sump, which was leaking! This was deemed to be somewhat less than ideal and all the clean oil was hurriedly drained out! The sump pan, once removed, revealed a small crack inside that had gone unnoticed. Fortunately, the sump from the TR2 engine that is destined for the Interim car was on the shelf, having been cleaned ready for the engine build at a future date, so this was commandeered, fitted and refilled. No more leaking!

Now we could finally start the engine! After spinning the engine over without plugs to obtain oil pressure and roughly setting the ignition timing, plug was refitted, leads connected in the correct order and the fuel system primed. Happily, we were soon making noise and filling the Workshop with the smells of a freshly built engine running for the first time!

As the hour was advancing and progress was good – it ran and sounded really good, was all together and would be driveable in the morning – it was time for home. Arrival the next morning, however, was a bit of a low, as the contents of the radiator were found on the Workshop floor! The water pump it seemed, was leaking from the gland seal within. Hurried phone calls were made to Moss Europe to try to locate a TR water pump. Our nearest proved to be in Bristol, so Charlotte sallied forth to go and get it. A chance phone call with a colleague, who as it turned out was in Bristol and a mere 5 minutes away from the Moss premises helped a great deal, and the 2 were able to meet at half distance and exchange parts. By lunchtime the new pump was installed and the front end of the car going back together. All we had to remove was the radiator and front cowl box, the outer panel staying in place!

So, all back together and holding fluids, Sol was removed from the ramp and set on the nice flat Workshop floor to set the front wheel alignment and adjust the ride height on the front suspension. With this done, it was time for a drive around the yard. It seemed to be ok, although adjustment to the clutch was required as it slipped a little, and some ignition and carburettor tuning was required. With this done, we set off firstly around the yard, then up the service road around Linton Trading Estate, and after a few further adjustments, a trip up the road! The clutch required a little more adjustment and a few carburettor tweaks before a bigger journey, from Bromyard, along the main A44 towards Worcester and around a favourite and testing route. Those familiar with the area will have heard of Ankerdine Hill, used years ago as a hill climb course and a real test for an engine’s state of tune. Although going gently as the engine was fresh, it pulled well and reached the top with ease.

Adjustments to the front dampers improved the handling characteristics greatly and the journey back to the Workshop ended with a broad grin and a feeling of great satisfaction that all worked well and was getting better with every mile.

After a thorough check over and a few more little adjustments, further and longer journeys over Herefordshire Roads were covered, before loading Sol with the kit that had been put ready, the last minute realisation that the fire extinguisher needed permanently bolting in, before the journey to the shipping company who was handling the first ‘leg’ of the adventure.

]]>The Restoration of ‘Sol’ The African Rally Morgan +4 (Chapter 3)https://www.holden.co.uk/blog/an-update-on-sol-the-plus-4-headed-for-africa/
Wed, 13 Jun 2018 17:14:19 +0000http://blog.holden.co.uk/?p=1810A year ago, we introduced you to ‘Sol’, a tired Plus 4 in desperate need of some restoration. Over the last 12 months, the team at Holden Morgan have been working tirelessly to restore sorry Sol in time for RallyRound’s Rally Africa. You can read more about the steps taken to this stage here and...

]]>A year ago, we introduced you to ‘Sol’, a tired Plus 4 in desperate need of some restoration. Over the last 12 months, the team at Holden Morgan have been working tirelessly to restore sorry Sol in time for RallyRound’s Rally Africa. You can read more about the steps taken to this stage here and here.

Below, you’ll find a video of Jeremy and Adam demonstrating the latest project developments from the Holden Morgan workshop. We don’t have long to go and very much look forward to sharing with you this amazing car’s journey through Africa in October.

]]>The Restoration of ‘Sol’ The African Rally Morgan +4 (Chapter 2)https://www.holden.co.uk/blog/april-update-on-sol-the-african-rally-4/
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 10:11:03 +0000http://blog.holden.co.uk/?p=1774Since I last wrote about progress on Sol, a good deal has happened, as following on from the making of the brake lines the car was despatched to VSM for the wings to be fitted. We had sourced a set of new Superform wings from the factory. Not strictly correct, or quite the right style...

]]>Since I last wrote about progress on Sol, a good deal has happened, as following on from the making of the brake lines the car was despatched to VSM for the wings to be fitted. We had sourced a set of new Superform wings from the factory. Not strictly correct, or quite the right style for Sol, but more readily available and also having a link to Holden, in that Holden Aluminium (now part of the Sapa Group) form the extruded outer edge wing beading for Superform. In fact, before Holden Aluminium relocating to Bromyard, the wing beading was formed in the very building in which Sol is being restored!

In an amazingly short period of four days, Steve had managed to trim and fit all four wings, Sol being retrieved on the fourth day to take up a position on the Morgan Sports Car Club stand at the Practical Classics Restoration Show. Sol gained much admiration and questions about the rebuild, the specification, the general construction of a Morgan, as well as the ever-present ‘I thought these cars had a wooden chassis’ question!

Following the Show were four days until Sol could return to VSM, so as the wings were fitted the opportunity was taken to fit the wing stays. Front wings are supported at the centre line of the front wheel, the other end being attached to the top of the crosshead. Previously, making these has been something akin to Blacksmithing, as the Factory supplied items were only ever somewhere near to fitting, in that there was a bolt hole at each end and a shape something like the wing profile. However, nowadays things are different! Someone at Morgan has discovered that by making the bracket a shape much more like the wing and putting slotted holes at each end, one part can fit a multitude of cars! This main front stay aside, all the rest had to be made from flat steel strip. There is still one more to do, but this can only be done once there is an exhaust system in place.

While ferreting through a box of parts for the car, we found the door locks which thankfully had been rescued off the old doors. With a little bit of a cleanup and some light oil they appeared to work well and showed few signs of much wear, so as the doors were currently being held shut with a small piece of wood and a screw, they were fitted. Not without having to make a packing piece from a piece of thin steel! A little careful adjustment and they latched shut, albeit being a bit on the tight side – but as the body settles and once it is firmly bolted to the chassis the locks will no doubt need some more fettling to get them spot on.

Having done these relatively minor tasks, I tackled the brake line across the back axle and the main line from the front of the car to the rear. This runs down the chassis rail on the passenger side of the car, opposite to the master cylinder which makes the pipe run somewhat longer, but it does keep it well away from the exhaust!

With these few little tasks completed, Easter was upon us, and the following Tuesday Sol was due back to VSM for the bonnet to be made. Dodging the ever-present rain showers, Sol made the journey from the Workshop to VSM without getting wet or dirty. Amazingly!

Just over a week later, a phone call to say that Sol was done and could be collected was a bit of a surprise, as the anticipation was that it would be at least another week. Steve had done the job quicker than he had suggested and it was ready.

The bonnets and cowl were now fitted, the cowl box had been made and bolted in – this insignificant sounding and fiddly to fit bit of sheet metal is the part that holds the front of the valances together and provides the mounting point for the Morgan grille. Steve had also fitted the windscreen for us and at the same time cut the slots for the windscreen wiper wheelbox spindles in the scuttle. Both of these jobs being far easier when a template and plenty of experience are readily available! Getting the angle of the windscreen wrong can affect the aesthetics of the car, not to mention cause a nuisance when it comes to fitting side screens.

This the brings us to the point where some of the ‘furniture’ can be fitted. So far, a pair of headlights have been fitted, using period correct 3-adjuster steel headlamp bowls instead of the more modern plastic option, a set of front indicators added, which is something that we don’t think Sol would have had from new, but are being fitted from a safety point of view. With these installed, Sol has somehow taken a leap towards becoming a complete car!

Wiper wheelboxes have been put in place, together with a new piece of tube for the wiper rack. This comes as a lovely straight piece of tube and has to be carefully cut and shaped to fit, ensuring not to kink the tube or bend it too tightly, otherwise the rack simply won’t run smoothly and the motor will be straining to operate correctly. A modern 2 speed motor has been fitted in place of the original single speed one to hopefully provide better wipers, although we are hoping the trip through Africa will not see too much rain, you never know!

Another job was to fit the tread rubbers to the wings. These comprise a very soft aluminium extrusion that is bolted to the wing with plenty of small coach bolts, which are then hidden by the rubber strip. These have had to be ordered from the Factory, so a couple of old ones that had been replaced on a car in the Workshop were used as templates.

The final job that brings us currently up to date has been to fit the bellhousing to the gearbox and overhaul the clutch operating mechanism. Those readers familiar with a Moss box in a Morgan will understand this, others may not. Essentially, the Moss gearbox is mounted remotely from the engine at the end of an approximately 2 feet long Magnesium bellhousing. At the flywheel end there is a cast aluminium sleeve that contains a carbon clutch thrust pad, this slides within the magnesium casting to operate the clutch by pushing against a steel pad in the centre of the clutch cover. The sleeve is connected via a mechanical linkage to the pedal and has 5 separate pivot points, each one wears and contributes towards the linkage being sloppy, add this to a lack of grease having been applied to the grease point where the aluminium sleeve slides and the end result is a clutch that is terrible to operate at best.

The cure for the lack of grease – and hence the slide for the aluminium sleeve becoming oval – is to machine the magnesium casting back to round and press in a piece of seamless steel tube. This job was entrusted to GEE, who helpfully had one available as an exchange! The rest of the linkage was overhauled and new pivot pins and split pins fitted to make it all work correctly. Once the bellhousing was bolted to the gearbox with the connecting shaft fitted first (the muff coupling on the nose of the gearbox input shaft does not fit through the aluminium clutch sleeve) it was placed in the chassis. At this point, we could not resist fitting the propshaft – just to make sure it fitted!

The coming week or so will see the fitting of the beading to the outer edge of the wings, fitting rear lamps, the addition of the bonnet catches and sorting out the fuel tank. Once this is all done, we will be somewhere near to being ready for paint. The burning question now is what colour……..!

]]>SOL – The African Rally Morgan +4 at the Practical Classics Restoration Showhttps://www.holden.co.uk/blog/sol-the-african-rally-morgan-4-at-the-practical-classics-restoration-show/
Fri, 23 Mar 2018 12:28:13 +0000http://blog.holden.co.uk/?p=1752Built in 1955 at The Morgan Motor Company, this car was one of the early Morgans to carry the now familiar traditional Morgan body style that has been in production for over 60 years. Echos of its predecessor, the Flat Rad +4 are still evident in the rear section, where the car carries 2 spare...

]]>Built in 1955 at The Morgan Motor Company, this car was one of the early Morgans to carry the now familiar traditional Morgan body style that has been in production for over 60 years. Echos of its predecessor, the Flat Rad +4 are still evident in the rear section, where the car carries 2 spare wheels vertically behind the rear axle and the fuel tank.

Sadly, little is known of its early history, aside from it ending up near to the Solway Coast, Scotland in the 1970 where, not too long after receiving an exchange TR2 engine from the Standard Motor Company, it was laid up in a barn. This was possibly due to the replacement engine suffering a failure of some sort, as we found a couple of bent push rods on disassembly. We believe that the recorded mileage on the odometer of approximately 75,000 miles is pretty much genuine, as other parts of the car showed little evidence of too much wear.

Fast forward to March 2017, and the car appeared in a listing on a well-known Auction website, very much a restoration project, but looking quite complete. Jeremy Holden, the car’s owner, was the successful bidder and it was decided that the car would make an interesting centre piece for the new showroom of Holden-Morgan, the Midland Morgan Agent, that was founded in the April of 2017.

Towards the middle of the year, information circulated from Rally Round regarding an event that would take place in October 2018 in Africa, going from Dar Es Salaam to Cape Town over 28 days and 7,000 Kilometres. Holden Vintage & Classic are a supporter of Rally Round, and it was felt that it may be interesting to take part in one of their events. The old, tired +4 was an ideal candidate, being rugged, simple mechanically and a vehicle which Holden are familiar with.

The rebuild commenced in earnest at the end of November 2017 with much work being carried out. Far more has been achieved than is currently on display, as the gearbox has been rebuilt, the engine is all but finished, brakes have all been fitted, as has the steering. These components have been removed currently for final finishing and painting, and for the wings to be fitted. The engineless chassis being far easier to manoeuvre around the Workshop than a complete car!

The next step is to fit the bonnet, and then to remove all the panel work and send it to the paintshop during which time the mechanical side will be completed ready for the finished body work.

New showing: The Bromyard Speed Festival – On Tour to Shelsley Walsh, 8th April 2018

]]>The Restoration of ‘Sol’ The African Rally Morgan +4 (Chapter 1)https://www.holden.co.uk/blog/sol-the-african-rally-4/
Fri, 09 Feb 2018 13:52:21 +0000http://blog.holden.co.uk/?p=1682Sol – so named because of its resting place for the past 40 or so years – The Solway Firth – and the incredible coincidence that the previous owner ‘s Grandfather had once owned The Solway Lass, a 2 masted Schooner on which Jeremy had once sailed around the Whitsunday Islands!! Those of you who...

Sol – so named because of its resting place for the past 40 or so years – The Solway Firth – and the incredible coincidence that the previous owner ‘s Grandfather had once owned The Solway Lass, a 2 masted Schooner on which Jeremy had once sailed around the Whitsunday Islands!!

Those of you who read MOG magazine will have already seen several instalments entitled ‘The Road to Africa’ which cover the beginnings of our story, but for those who have not, here goes….

The tale begins in March of 2017 as the plans to create ‘Holden Morgan’ the Midlands Morgan Agent, were coming to fruition, Jeremy Holden was casting his eyes around for a project, ideally as a competition car with historic circuit racing in mind, most importantly however, it had to be a Morgan. A marque with which he was more than familiar having owned several over the years, mostly competition cars for hillclimbs and circuit races, although one Moss Box +8 was used as an Historic Rally Car.

The link between Holden Vintage & Classic and Rally Round provided the inspiration in the form of details regarding an event for historic cars, starting in Dar es Salaam and finishing in Cape Town 28 days later – the perfect event – only a car meeting the required criteria was needed. It had to be something relatively simple yet rugged and reliable mechanically, ideally it needed to carry 2 spare wheels, have space for spares etc, and a decent fuel capacity, plus it HAD to be a Morgan!

Amazingly, and as with a previous Holden Project, Ebay provided the solution, although unlike the previous project (Julian’s 2CV) this one stood absolutely no chance of passing an MOT the day after collecting it. The car then, was a 1955 Morgan +4, sad and down-at-heel looking, but most importantly, complete. This ticked nearly all of the boxes – strong and reliable Triumph TR engine, straight forward Moss gearbox and leaf sprung live axle, durable steel chassis and flexible yet strong ash body frame, carried the all important twin spare wheels vertically at the back, a decent size tank, but room to make a larger one if needed.

After a few nervous days, Jeremy ended up the winning bidder, and sallied forth to Scotland with the trailer to collect his prize. It turned out in conversation with the seller that there was, as mentioned at the head of the page, a connection in the form of a sailing boat on the opposite side of the world, and hence the car being named SOL.

During the course of the journey south, many years of storeage in the damp Solway environment proved too much for the frail side rails and the chassis gave way, the middle of the car settling down on the trailer leaving more than the required 4 contact patches with the ground. On arrival at Holden Vintage & Classic, and following a quick assessment, a plan was hatched to put the car on display in the shop, which was eventually accomplished with the addition of a set of castor wheels to act as a trolley for the chassis and a trolley jack to lift it.

During its resting period in the shop the car dried out significantly, depositing several piles of flakey rust and timber residue on the floor. It was noted during this time, that although not in the best of states, the car was very complete and surprisingly original, having a correct TR2 engine, all of its original instruments, a complete set of 16 inch steel wheels and was among the earliest cars to carry the traditional Morgan shape that has become so recognisable.

Fast forward now to July and the car has been moved out of the Shop to make way for new cars, its resting place the Holden Morgan Workshop, where work began in earnest to dismantle and carefully assess exactly what we had and formulate a plan for the ensuing rebuild.

The engine and gearbox were removed, together with the body frame and bulkhead, all this being accomplished in a manner that has been seen by very few cars! The engine was taken to one side and carefully disassembled, photographed and videoed using among other gadgets a time-lapse camera. The footage being assembled for display purposes at the Run for the Hills event. With the major mechanicals and the body removed, it was possible to see the extent of the corrosion and the work required to reconstruct the chassis. As it was by now August and the weekend of the Run for the Hills event was fast approaching, an event where Holden Morgan, along with all the other UK Morgan Dealers, would have a display stand. Sol would take pride of place, with a TV screen mounted on the front crosshead showing the video of the dismantling process, and to act as a centrepiece of the Holden stand, as well as to unveil the project to Morgan owners and enthusiasts.

In order to provide enough support to the chassis for the weekend, our ever helpful neighbours at Active Fabrication manufactured a pair of part side rails and a cross member to prop it all up, as well as producing a couple of brackets to hold the TV screen. Helpfully, these mounted on the cross head and meant no extra holes were drilled!!

Following on from the Run for the Hills event, the chassis was stripped completely and sent to GEE Ltd in Nailsworth. GEE specialise in the restoration and supply of structural steelwork components for Morgans and were not at all fazed by the chassis. In fact, they were more than happy to help, and came up with a few useful suggestions on how to strengthen the chassis at critical points and how best to increase the ground clearance. A necessity for a car heading ‘off the beaten track’!!

While GEE were performing miracles with the chassis, Steve Barnes at VSM was called upon for advice regarding the body frame and sheet metal work. Sadly, all of this was deemed to be beyond economic salvation and a new ash frame commissioned, once completed, this was expertly panelled by Steve at VSM, who at the same time made a new bulkhead and pair of front valances.

All of this work was completed by the aforementioned outside specialists leaving little to do in the Workshop, although the engine that had been the focus of the disassembly video for Run for the Hills had been sent away to Mike Jones Engines in Leominster for any necessary machine work to be undertaken. At this point, a second ‘Project’ Car enters our story, as Holdens purchased, at Auction, another +4, this time a 1953 ‘Interim’ car – so called because the front end styling was a half way house between the Flat Rad +4 and the traditional shape of Sol. This car was fitted with a more desirable (for Sol) but non original TR3 engine which offered certain improvements over our TR2, not least of which was a high port cylinder head, giving a performance improvement. It was decided therefore to do a swap and use the TR3 engine for Sol and fit the more correct TR2 to the interim car. The TR2 was retrieved from Mike’s Workshop and the TR3 delivered. Progress with the rebuild is ongoing!

Towards the end of November there was a repaired, strengthened and slightly modified chassis on the Workshop floor, together with a body frame and a bulkhead and front valances. During the course of the chassis work, the Morgan suspension guru’s at SSL got involved, working out spring rates and damper types and settings to offer improved control over the suspension system of the finished car, which incorporated a special frame over the rear axle to allow fitment of twin adjustable shock absorbers to each side of the rear axle. This has become known as ‘The Coffee Table’ due to its shape and is designed such that it does not compromise the rear luggage board behind the seats. GEE and SSL between them had come up with suitable bracketry to mount all of this as well as the lower plates to attach the leaf springs to the rear axle, and as these parts arrived with the chassis, little time was lost in bolting plates and springs to the axle with longer and stronger than standard U-bolts. Before any work could commence, the bare chassis was set up on a pair of tressles to get the whole thing at an appropriate height to work on. Fortunately, GEE had pre aligned and drilled the front crosshead to the chassis , which saved a fair amount of time in getting the critical chassis alignment correct.

First thing was to assemble the leaf springs to the rear axle with the U-bolts and lower plates which then slotted neatly into the chassis and the body frame placed on top. Modification to the inner rear wheel arches was necessary to allow the body frame to fit around the Coffee Table. These were marked out and cut with a most useful battery circular saw. Having got the coffee table in place, the body was refitted and the bulkhead placed into the chassis with the body frame pushed against this to give a close fit. At this point the whole lot was clamped down using G-clamps to hold it all in place and holes drilled for bolts. Front valances, or inner wings, soon followed in a similar way being clamped into place and checked carefully before drilling holes.

The next step was to make up some floor boards. We measured the thickness of the remnants of the old floor boards that we had and set out to source similar material. Bromyard Timber stocked a size of exterior grade ply that was of the correct, or at least the metric equivalent of the size we required. Again our trusty battery saw was put to good use cutting out the boards after measuring and marking out on the bench.

To recap, we now have a body frame mounted to a chassis, with a bulkhead, inner wings, rear axle fitted and floor boards made.

What next then?

By now, the festive season was but a distant memory and attentions turned towards some of the other parts we may need. A list was drawn up of things such as front stub axles, brakes, rear brakes, handbrake mechanism, rear hubs, plus numerous other small parts required, all of which were ordered from the Morgan Factory Spares Department. Whilst the Factory were busy assembling this collection of parts, we had to sort out the fitting of an engine and gearbox. The only issue here being that both Sol’s engine and gearbox were away being rebuilt, the engine by Mike Jones in Leominster and the gearbox by Techniques Morgan in Hertfordshire. Fortunately, the whereabouts of a redundant TR block was known of and this, combined with the gearbox from Holden’s Interim car, kindly loaned for a while, provided the necessary combination to fit to the chassis to align engine mounts, pedals , sort out the propshaft length etc.

The major order of parts from the Factory was soon with us, and included all manner of components – front stub axles, brake discs, wheel bearings and seals, steering track rods, track rod ends, plus rear brake back plates and brake drums! When ordering the stub axles, an early decision was made to upgrade to 4/4 stub axles, as these offered greater strength than the original +4 type which had a tendancy to break under the stresses of competition work, something that was discovered in period, hence the reason for the original Supersports and later cars being fitted with stronger front stub axles. First job here was to ream the bushes in the stub axles to ensure the king pins were a correct fit, accomplished here in the Holden Workshop with a fixture fitted to the large pillar drill we have and a suitable machine reamer driven very slowly to provide the correct finished size. Next step was to fit the new wheel bearings and inner hub seal to the correct 4 stud hubs which had been sourced from GEE, then to assemble the front suspension onto the chassis. As the rear axle was already in place, it was a simple matter of placing the complete back plate assembly onto the axle end (far easier and quicker than trying to remove, refurbish and overhaul 50 odd year old components!), especially as the rear brakes have barely changed since Sol was built!

We now had a bodied chassis with front end sheet metal work in place, plus an engine and gearbox installed, onto which we could now put wheels. Sol was beginning to look more and more like a car!

A decision had been made to fit a scuttle roll hoop to provide greater structural integrity to the body and chassis at the point where the door hinges hang, so one was sourced via another Morgan Specialist. Sadly, this was not of the correct dimensions for a 1950’s era Morgan so we decided that, rather than try to modify something which was nicely made and finished we would be quicker and easier to make a new one, using the incorrect one as the basis of a pattern. Jeremy had a contact no more than a couple of miles from his home who had suitable tube bending equipment and was able to bend up a hoop to the required dimensions for us. At this point, Sol made her first journey on her own wheels, being moved to the neighbouring and aforementioned Active Fabrication who made the base plates and welded the scuttle bar together for us. Whilst in their workshop, Active Fabrication made a pair of storage boxes to fit in the space immediately in front of the rear axle and to each side of the propshaft, one for tools / spares and the other to carry the battery. They also produced an enlarged tool box to fit on the bulkhead top, one with a hinged lid that again can be used for spares and tools. Space for such items is going to be fairly limited, so it is necessary to maximise the use of every space we have.

Fabrication work completed and Sol made another journey, this time back to the Holden Workshop where the handbrake cables were fitted, together with the timber work that will support the fuel tank and the spare wheel carrier was also fitted at this time. Essentially now Sol is ready to have wings fitted and the bonnet made, but as there was to be a slight time delay, the decision was made to disassemble the car and send the main structural components away for powder coating. Thus the whole thing was reduced to a pile of components, ensuring that all the holes that needed drilling had been done and the chassis, front crosshead, ‘Coffee Table’ and spare wheel carrier were all sent out to County Powdercoating for a coat of satin black.

As I write this, we are awaiting the return of the finished powdercoating so that the build can commence in earnest…….

]]>Are we up to the challenge? Of course we are! Morgan+4 Restorationhttps://www.holden.co.uk/blog/are-we-up-to-the-challenge-of-course-we-are-morgan-44-restoration/
Tue, 13 Jun 2017 19:09:54 +0000http://blog.holden.co.uk/?p=1432It’s not like the team at Holden Morgan to shy away from a challenge, and this is especially true of their latest venture – a monumental restoration project of a 1955 Morgan +4 currently occupying the new service and restoration bay. We first introduced you to this broken down +4 back in March after Jeremy...

It’s not like the team at Holden Morgan to shy away from a challenge, and this is especially true of their latest venture – a monumental restoration project of a 1955 Morgan +4 currently occupying the new service and restoration bay.

We first introduced you to this broken down +4 back in March after Jeremy picked it up from Scotland following a bit of late night impulse shopping on eBay. Coincidentally, it turned out the chap he bought it off frequented the same old haunt Jeremy was once a regular at over 30 years ago, meaning their paths may have crossed a few times before. On Monday 13th March, after a celebratory dinner at the Anchor Hotel Kipford, Jeremy loaded the Morgan onto a trailer and it was transported back to the Holden premises in Bromyard.

Unfortunately, due to its fragile state, the car actually broke in half mid-journey, meaning that a new chassis will be required, a good job the Morgan factory is just up the road!

The exciting news is that there’s now an adventurous plan for the car. Not only will it be restored, in house, by June next year (which, when it comes to car restoration, is a bit of a tall order), but it’ll be modified into a rally car and taken to Rally Round Africa in October 2018!

For those of you who are unfamiliar, Rally Round Africa is a 6700km route that begins at Dar es Salaam, passing magnificent wildlife, bustling cities, breathtaking coastlines and dusty deserts before concluding in Cape Town. The question is; can this rather sorry looking Morgan handle the heat? We believe it can!

Follow our story over the next twelve months and watch us transform this tired and forgotten Morgan into a rally car fit for the African wilderness.